


History Lesson

by Jackolidus



Series: Justin and Justin [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Blindness, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Injury, Memory Loss, Robots, Space Violence, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28879392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackolidus/pseuds/Jackolidus
Series: Justin and Justin [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2114421
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	History Lesson

“How do we know he’s not gonna try to kill himself again?” a voice asked, coming out of the darkness, sounding authoritative. “I can’t have him as a member of my crew if I can’t trust that he will take care of himself. He’s a risk I’m not willing to take.”

The unknown man from earlier spoke. “If you kick him off this ship, you lose me, too.”

“He doesn’t even remember you, Ericson.” 

“Yeah, but I remember everything. And I can’t leave him on his own.”

The other voice paused. “I’m not running a charity. But he can stay until he’s better. After that, he has to prove to me that he’s not a liability.”

Ericson sighed. “Fine. Don’t think I’m gonna abandon him. I’m going to help him.”

“Even though he remembers nothing?”

“Until one of us dies, it’s me and him. Ride or die.” He scoffed. “And we’re the best you’re ever gonna find, so you should at least think twice about leaving us at the next port.”

A third voice, one that didn’t sound like a person, said, “Captain to the main deck.”

The voice that wasn’t Ericson, that was probably the captain, said, “I have to get to the deck. Keep an eye on him.”

Ericson was quiet, and Justin listened to the door open and close. Then, he forced his eyes open, and winced at the darkness, and the lack of shapes. He still couldn’t see. 

“You were awake?” Ericson asked. He sounded amused.

“Yeah. I think.”

“Still can’t see?”

“Not unless it’s just really dark in here.” 

“I have it dim. Do you want me to turn the lights up?”

Justin shook his head. His throat didn’t hurt as bad anymore. “Nah. I’m pretty sure I’m still blind.”

Ericson was quiet. 

“What’s your name?” Justin asked, trying to be polite and nice to this guy he didn’t know. Even though he was pretty sure he was supposed to.

“You call me Matt.” He hesitated. “Everyone else calls me Ericson. It’s better to be anonymous out here. Feel free to call me Ericson. In public. Don’t call me Matt in public. That’s a private thing.”

Justin took a deep breath. “No one will tell me where I am. Even though we all agree I can’t remember. And I don’t understand.”

Matt came closer to him. “Yeah, the captain is worried you’re secretly some kind of spy sent by the IPC.” 

“So you can’t tell me anything, either?”

“I’m stupider than the captain,” Matt said, decisively. “And we’re good friends. I like to think I would know if you’d been body-snatched or something.” 

Justin blinked at the darkness. “So, where am I?”

“You are on a ship. K1115. We’re space pirates.”

“No shit? Laser guns and space robbery?”

Matt chuckled. “Yeah. Space robbery and laser guns.”

Justin nodded. “Cool.”

“It gets boring after a while.”

Justin doubted that. This all seemed very surreal. He couldn’t believe that he’d forgotten it all. “What happened before I put a laser in my head?”

“Don’t remember that, either, huh?” Matt sounded sad. “Don’t ask me why you did it, because I don’t know. We all thought you were stable. All I know is that we were finishing up a mission, doing some recon, stashing the goods to sell, and you were in charge of taking care of some slave kids we found at the station. And then we dropped them off with some traders and sold the goods and then you wanted to come back to our quarters and I stayed up top with the captain, trying to plot a new course. When I came back, you were on the floor. The Doc said if I hadn’t found you when I did, you’d be toast.”

Justin took another deep breath. “Well, you know, I did turn out fine. I mean, mostly intact. I can’t see or remember what happened, but I feel fine. You know? Mostly human.”

Matt made a worried noise. “That’s not good. You’re barely human. You feel human?”

“Mostly.”

“Shit. You’re not human. You’re, like, if you don’t mind me using outdated terms, 70% humanoid. The rest is metal.”

“I’m an android?” Justin frowned. That couldn’t be right. He was super sure he was human. Maybe not from Earth, but at least a little human. 

“Cyborg, actually.” Matt still sounded concerned. “Shit. If I’m remembering right, your organs are, like, all synthetic.”

“70% seems like a lot.”

“Yeah, but, legally you’re a cyborg. And you were never human.”

Justin’s throat was feeling dry again. “What am I?”

“We’re both from this tiny planet right outside the IPC’s limits. It’s called Peace. That’s what we call it. But everyone else calls it #45232. Because everything has to be numbered, I guess.” Matt sighed. “So we’re a race called the Peace. You’re a part of the Peace. We do look a little like humans, but we’re older than them, so.”

“And I’m a cyborg. Are you a cyborg?”

“No. You’re special.”

Justin turned his head toward Matt’s voice. “Why?”

Matt swallowed. “Yeah. Okay, so, your lung and heart got melted by radiation. When you were a kid. So you’ve been cyborg for most of your life. And, like, your leg got hacked off a long time ago. When we first started moving stuff. So you have a robot leg.”

“Really?” Justin wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Was it cool or just creepy and weird?

“Yeah. Really.” Justin heard Matt shift. “Robot leg. It’s cool. It’s not, like, a scary robot leg or anything.”

“I guess that’s a good thing.” Justin felt the mood change just a little bit. He heard Matt yawn. “Are you just supposed to be watching me? All the time? Or, like, what’s going on?”

Matt was quiet for a moment. “No, these are my quarters, too. We share. So I’m just in here because this is where I live.”

“We’re roommates. Got it.”

“Yeah, I guess. I guess you’ve got it.”

Justin was starting to feel a little bit restless. His back was feeling sore. “When do I get to eat?”

Matt stood up. “Hungry?”

“Yeah.”

Matt said to the room, “Lights, two,” and Justin saw the room get brighter. “What are you hungry for? Something healthy-tasting?”

Justin frowned. “Fuck no. What’s my favorite dessert?”

Matt chuckled at him and walked to the other side of the room. “Six,” he said, “can we get two orders of Ripper’s favorite?”

Six, who Justin imagined to be another little robot, chirped at Matt. “Coming right up!”

Matt sat down next to Justin again. “It’s been a long day, Justin.” 

“Has it?”

“It really has.”

~

Later, while Justin was semiconscious, he felt Matt crawl into the bed next to him and get comfortable. Matt’s arm wrapped around him. Justin fell back into sleep.


End file.
